A top Constitutional scholar from Princeton who gave a televised speech that slammed President George W. Bush’s executive overreach was recently told that he had been added to the Transportation Security Administration’s terrorist watch list.

When inquiring with a clerk why he was on the list, Murphy was asked if he had participated in any peace marches.

“We ban a lot of people from flying because of that,” a clerk said.

A report filed today by the Russian News agency RIA Novosti indicates that Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces have nearly completed preparations for a possible military operation against Iran, and will be ready to strike in early April.

Vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences Russian Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, said last week the Pentagon was planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran’s military infrastructure in the near future.

“I have no doubt there will be an operation, or rather an aggressive action against Iran,” Ivashov said.

On Thursday, NBC’s Today Show explored whether the confessions of alleged 9/11 “mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed can be trusted, since he claimed to have been tortured after being detained.

“Let’s talk about the issue of torture,” NBC’s Matt Lauer said. “He says in his statement that he didn’t make this statement under duress or pressure, but he does also say that he was tortured by the CIA after his capture.”

The danger that state secrets could be revealed outweighs a German man’s claims that the CIA tortured him in an Afghan prison, a federal appeals court ruled in refusing to reinstate his lawsuit.

The case centers on the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program, in which terrorism suspects are captured and taken to foreign countries for interrogation. Human rights groups have heavily criticized the program.

The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Friday a lower court’s dismissal of Khaled el-Masri’s lawsuit against former CIA director George Tenet and others.

Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols claims Timothy McVeigh once said a top FBI official was behind the bombing, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Nichols, 51, claimed in a statement on Feb. 9 that McVeigh identified Larry Potts as the high-ranking FBI official “who was apparently directing McVeigh in the bomb plot,” The Oklahoman reported.